344 



THE CROSSBILL MIGRATION. 



On the morning of July iSth an adult female Crossbill was 

 picked up dead under the telegraph wires in King's Road, 

 Ilkley, by my neighbour, Mr. George Priestman, who gave it 

 me to skin. The right wing was broken, and the neck .lightly 

 bruised, presumably where it had struck the wire ; otherwise 

 the bird was in excellent condition, the body being plump and 

 the plumage very good. — Herbert Walker, Ilkley. 



Mr. E. C. Houltby, one of our local taxidermists, tells me 

 that when crossing to Hamburg on the ' City of Leeds,' eighty- 

 three miles off Spmm, at 6-5 a.m., August ist, he saw a young 

 Crossbill come aboard. It seemed fairly tame, and began to 

 eat crumbs. It remained on board until about eleven o'clock. — 

 C. S. Carter, Louth. 



A number of Crossbills came on board a ship off Scarborough 

 the end of June, and seven or eight were caught, and were 

 brought into the Forth. They were seen by my son. — Rev. 

 R. Steavenson, Wroxeter. 



Small parties of Crossbills were seen near Harrogate in the 

 middle of July. There has evidently been two extensive and 

 distinct immigrations of Crossbills to the British Isles, one at 

 the end of June, and another about the middle of July. As an 

 instance of the great extent of the immigration it is worthy of 

 notice that records were sent from the Orkneys and the Lizard 

 on the same date, and from almost every county on the East 

 Coast, in addition to many visiting ships on the North Sea. 



The earlier immigration is noticeable, especially when the 

 fact that Dr. Steward when in Finland in June last, saw parties 

 of Crossbills making their way northward, is considered. In 

 addition to the above records and those which appeared in the 

 August ' NaturaHst,' Mr. Boyes in ' The Field,' records a party 

 of a score or so at Beverley, and Mr. Wade, in ' British Birds,' 

 records them at Dalton and Beverley. Mr. St. Ouintin told 

 me that they had been seen at Scampston, where they had lit- 

 tered the ground with the green cones of the larch. 



Messrs. Boyes and Wade remark upon a fact which is very 

 noticeable, and which has been put on record by many other 

 observers, viz., that the birds had been feeding extensively on 

 Green Fly. There must be many other occurrences in York- 

 shire, and observers would do well to forward a record of them 

 to ' The Naturalist.' — R. Fortune. 



Naturalist 



